We Need to Know Jesus and Have Life in the Spirit Acts 18:18-19:20 February 8, 2015 Matt Rawlings

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1 1 We Need to Know Jesus and Have Life in the Spirit Acts 18:18-19:20 February 8, 2015 Matt Rawlings ESV Acts 18:18 19:20 After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow. 19 And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. 21 But on taking leave of them he said, "I will return to you if God wills," and he set sail from Ephesus. 22 When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch. 23 After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. 24 Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 27 And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, 28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. 19:1 And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. 2 And he said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" And they said, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." 3 And he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They said, "Into John's baptism." 4 And Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus." 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. 7 There were about twelve men in all. 8 And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. 9 But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. 10 This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. 11 And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. 13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I adjure you by the Jesus, whom Paul proclaims." 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?" 16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. 18 Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. 19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books 1

2 2 together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily John Wesley was born into a Christian home. He had been raised by his father Samuel, who was a faithful, Anglican Priest and his very godly and devout mother, Susanna. He had heard the good news about Jesus Christ his whole life and been taught very well. He was well educated and an eloquent public speaker. He attended Christ Church College at Oxford, which was perhaps the most prestigious religious college of the day. He was part of a Holy Club that his brother Charles had formed with his friends and they made solemn covenants to live holy and disciplined lives for Christ, as well as to devote themselves to Bible study, prayer and fasting, as well as sacrificial acts of giving. John was such a good example of Christian living, that he was made the group s president. He was ordained into ministry and he sailed to Georgia, to serve as a missionary to the native Americans just a few hours drive from here actually. But John began to have doubts personally and after he returned to England, he wrote, I went to America to convert the Indians; but, oh, who shall convert me? You see, John Wesley did not really know Jesus nor have new life in the Spirit. But on the ship back from America, he had met some Moravian missionaries who testified to salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. So, one night, while he was despondent, he went to a meeting house in London where they were preaching and he wrote in his journal, In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. John was an educated, eloquent man, who knew all about Jesus but had not trusted in Him, and so had not received new life in Christ. But once he understood the grace of God through Jesus that comes by faith alone. He was made alive to God and changed for good. In our passage today, we discover three kinds of people who at first appear to know Jesus but they do not know Him personally and they don t have life in the Holy Spirit. The great Dr. Luke, who wrote Acts was a master story-teller but he was a story-teller with intent. And the main idea that we are going to focus on today, is really the big picture that Luke s account shows us. Main Idea: Knowing Jesus and having new life in the Spirit, are absolutely necessary. Luke is masterful in the way he teaches, so like a good play-write, he sets the stage and then unfolds the play, by showing us different characters and letting us think about the implications. But unlike a play-write, Luke is writing a historical account through the Holy Spirit and he masterfully unveils three accounts to show us that knowing Jesus and having new life in the Spirit are absolutely necessary. But, first, Luke sets the stage. The last we saw Paul, he was finishing his time in Corinth and had set sail for Syria. In the first few verses of our passage, Luke explains how Paul landed in Ephesus long enough to leave Priscilla and Aquila there to do the work of ministry, while he headed back to Jerusalem, and then Antioch, desiring and planning, if the Lord wills to return to Ephesus. Part of what motivated Paul to go quickly was likely the vow he had made and the culmination of the vow was cutting his hair and then he would go to Jerusalem and offer it as a sacrifice in the temple at Passover. 2

3 3 So, Luke shows Paul ending what is called his second missionary journey and beginning his third journey here and he goes from Antioch, all through Galatia and Phrygia and comes to Ephesus as he had planned. Luke gives us three vignettes, three different, short accounts of people, that all demonstrate the need for knowing Jesus and having life in the Spirt. The first story Luke shows us, is that of Apollos and it illustrates that 1. It is possible to know about Jesus but not have life in Jesus. Apollos was from Alexandria, a major city in northwest Egypt. Alexandria was the center of Hellenistic thought and it housed the world s largest library at the time. The Greek translation of the Old Testament had been written there and it had a very large Jewish population as well. So, it is no surprise that Apollos is referred to as a Jew who was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures or as the New American Standard Version translates it, he was Mighty in the Scriptures. May that be said of all of us, that we one day would have such an understanding of Scripture that we are mighty in the Scriptures. Saying Apollos was eloquent means that he was skilled in rhetoric and was a learned man, who was very good at public speaking. It is likely that he may have been a much better public speaker than the Apostle Paul. Then, verse 25 tells us that he had been instructed or taught well in the way of the Lord. Apollos was an all-around, admirable, godly man and he was zealous for the things of God and teaching about God and he even taught accurately the things about Jesus. But Luke very specifically and intentionally writes that he knew only the baptism of John. And that is meant to surprise the reader and give pause. And it is surprising isn t it? After all, Apollos knows God s Word and is fervently preaching about God and Jesus, the coming Messiah, but he doesn t know Jesus personally and have new life in the Spirit. So, even though Apollos is eloquent, and strong in the Scriptures and fervent or zealous in spirit, and Luke tells us he taught and spoke accurately the things concerning Jesus, he knew only the baptism of John, which a few verses later, Luke shows is not sufficient. Luke will show us in a few verses that knowing only the baptism of John means a person is not a Christian so I believe that Apollos isn t yet a Christian here. That is astounding isn t it! Maybe he had been isolated in Alexandria and had not heard about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, or maybe he just didn t understand the personal implications for himself or had never been told about the need for personal faith in Jesus Christ. We don t know for sure but, since he received John s baptism, Apollos would have repented and believed in the Messiah and he knew Jesus was the Messiah, but somehow, he didn t accurately understand the implications of who Jesus was and he didn t know Jesus personally. Now, Apollos was a transitional figure from an Old Testament Jew, who would have placed their faith in the Messiah, to one who believed in Jesus but he had not understood who Jesus was fully. He was a true disciple of John the Baptist and he was fervently speaking and teaching about the coming Messiah who is Jesus he just didn t understand who Jesus was personally. But he was boldly speaking in the synagogue and telling all the other Jews to look to Jesus as the Messiah. But, for all of his eloquence and knowledge and boldness, he didn t get it quite right. You see, it is possible to know all about the Bible and to know about Jesus but not know Him personally and not place your faith in Him for new life in the Spirit. Luke is showing us that knowledge, no matter how good, it not enough. 3

4 4 When I look back on my own life, I m not sure when I became a Christian, because I knew a lot about the Bible and I knew about Jesus and believed in Him but I m not exactly sure when I placed my faith in Jesus. But, as a young adult, I made sure that I had new life in Christ through the Spirit. How about you? Do you know if you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ? Are you trusting that He died to pay the penalty for all of your sins and that He has been raised to new life, so that you might have eternal life in Him? Don t just be well-intentioned and well-taught and assume that you know Jesus personally. Well, in the case of Apollos, God had Priscilla and Aquila gently help him know Jesus personally. They didn t mock him or publicly correct him. It says that took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. This is a picture of a respectful and gentle correction and education of Apollos. And when Apollos knew who Jesus really was, who he had been teaching about, it made him even more effective for ministry. Later in his letters, Paul indicates that he supported and worked with Apollos. But it was necessary for Apollos to know Jesus first. And then, in verse 27, we see he was effective. He wanted to go across to Corinth and the brothers encouraged him and wrote a letter of commendation to the Corinthian Christians and Luke writes of him: When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. Now that Apollos had experienced new life in Christ and was filled with the Spirit, he was a great help to them. Just like God used John Wesley after his conversion, to start a Great Awakening in England that dramatically changed history and some would say was instrumental in England avoiding a revolution like France experienced. The second vignette we are going to look at is in verses 1-10, where we see people who are religious but don t know Jesus personally or understand their need for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So, this second story that Luke shows us, illustrates that 2. It is possible to seem to be a disciple but not have life in Jesus. While Apollos is in Corinth, Paul arrives in Ephesus and finds some who appear to be disciples. But he comes to find out that they are only superficially disciples. So, Paul finds them somehow and he must have noticed a difference from something they either did or said, because he asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" He knew something was off. They were religious and they were living like disciples but they lacked the Holy Spirit they had not yet placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, when Paul asks them, they give a kind of odd answer they say, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." Any disciple of John the Baptist would know that there was a Holy Spirit but what they are saying is that they had not heard that the Holy Spirit had come that He is currently available. So, without the Holy Spirit, they have not yet received new life in Christ, even though they may have been followers of Jesus or at least of John the Baptist. They were still waiting for the Messiah to come after John but they had not personally placed their faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins and they had not yet received the promised Holy Spirit, whom Jesus said He would send. You see, the Holy Spirit is the One who makes people alive in Christ and the Holy Spirit comes and fills everyone who places their trust in Jesus Christ to the extent that it is referred to as a 4

5 5 baptism. Everyone who places their faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins is so immersed with the presence of the Holy Spirit that they are baptized with Him. But Paul is perplexed because these men who call themselves disciples haven t received the Holy Spirit and so he asks incredulously, into what then were you baptized? Then they answered Paul and said, Into John s baptism. So, these disciples of John, who at first appeared to be Christians, had only experienced the baptism of John and were not truly disciples of Jesus. They had not received the Holy Spirit and they didn t have new life, through faith in Jesus. But that is what they really need and that is what Paul tells them about in verse 4: And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus. " Luke gives us a summary of what Paul told them when he explained to them that Jesus was the one they were looking for. So, verse 5 tells us that on hearing about the Lord Jesus Christ, they responded, received new life and they were baptized. At the same time, when they were born again and baptized into Jesus, they received the Holy Spirit. They received what they needed most. Then, Luke writes that they experienced a kind of miniature Pentecost themselves and Luke said, when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. They received the Holy Spirit in power and they were immediately different. They were changed and God graciously gave them immediate evidence of their new life. They received a clear sign that they were completed in their faith and it testified to the legitimacy of their salvation, just like the Jewish believers in Acts 2 at Pentecost. Because they were gentiles living in a foreign land didn t mean that they were a different kind of Christian. Just because this account happened at least 20 years after Pentecost didn t mean that they Spirit had stopped working in the same ways. Just because they were not in the first generation of Christians in Israel, didn t mean that they no longer needed the power of the Holy Spirit or that they should no longer expect the Holy Spirit to work powerfully. They needed and they received the same Holy Spirit and the same empowering, that all who believe in Jesus receive, ever since the beginning of the accounts in the book of Acts. Their testimony shows us that it is possible to call yourself a disciple but not have the Holy Spirit. So, all disciples should ask themselves, do I bear evidence of the Holy Spirit in my life? Some potential questions to ask are: Do I desire to pray and do I hear God speaking to me through His Word? Am I aware of the Holy Spirit at work in my life? Do I regularly experience both conviction from the Holy Spirit and yet also assurance that I am a child of God? Well, next, Luke gives us some details about how Paul taught in the synagogue for three months until some began to speak against the Way. He used the lecture hall of Tyrannus which means the tyrant maybe something his pupils nicknamed him. And Paul taught like this for two years faithfully and the Word of the Lord spread so widely that Luke said that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. God was working mightily in Paul through the Holy Spirit and He was affirming the message of Paul with spectacular signs and wonders. In Verse 11 and 12 Luke wrote, And God was doing 5

6 6 extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. They were extraordinary miracles these were not typical miracles, nor even the type of miracles commonly seen among the Apostles. Now, we are called today still to pray for people to be healed and to expect people to be healed. In the book of James, we are instructed to lay hands on people and even anoint them with oil, pray a prayer of faith and that people will be healed. But, let me say for a moment, that we don t see teaching anywhere for us to get handkerchiefs or aprons and put them on people to heal them. And you should be suspicious of any so-called ministry that does this and charges people for prayer cloths or healing handkerchiefs. Paul wasn t charging people for healing that would be completely against the teaching of the Bible. But People were coming up to him and touching handkerchiefs to him and in faith were carrying them to the sick and God was mercifully healing people of diseases and getting rid of demons from them. This was God manifesting Himself in a very unusual, uncommon way, so that the people would listen to the message of Paul and that the people would place their faith in Jesus and praise His name. I think God probably granted Paul these unusual miracles because of the city he was in as well. It was a city full of magic and full or the worship of the false goddess Artemis or Diana. In fact, Ephesus was the home of one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, in the massive temple of Artemis. And many would have claimed power through their false goddess but God demonstrated through these miracles that He alone is powerful and that the name of the Lord Jesus is exalted over all so-called gods. Then, Luke gives us a third vignette a third, short account of yet another type of person that demonstrates the need for genuine, new life in Christ, through the Holy Spirit. And this third story that Luke shows us, in verses 13-16, illustrates that 3. It is possible to use Jesus but not have life in Jesus. Look in your Bibles, Luke tells us this story that is almost comical if it wasn t true or if it didn t happen to you. But instead this story results in even greater respect for the name of Jesus. Acts 19:13-16 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I adjure you by the Jesus, whom Paul proclaims." Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?" And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. What is Luke showing us in this story? He is showing us that faking it doesn t cut it. He is showing us that trying to just use Jesus for your own cause ends badly. He is showing us that pretending to know Jesus or claiming to know Jesus or even using the name of Jesus isn t enough and even the demons know this. These were sons of a Jewish High priest, so they likely understood the Old Testament Scriptures well. Or at least, they were around religion enough. But here, we see that they went around, from place to place, as itinerant exorcists casting out demons or at least pretending to. 6

7 7 Now, they had somehow heard about Jesus through Paul and they had heard Paul proclaim His name and they had seen or heard of demons being cast out by the power of Jesus. Maybe these were the kind of men Paul had in mind he warned Timothy of in 2 Timothy 3:5, when he said to avoid people, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. These were selfish men who sought only to use Jesus for their own gain. They sought to use Jesus to get money and notoriety. They wanted to use the name of Jesus but deny the real power of Jesus. They didn t believe in the gospel themselves but they wanted to tap into the power that Paul had. This is a warning passage for anyone who is just trying to use Jesus for their own gain and isn t really interested in knowing Jesus personally. The sons of Sceva had said, I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims, but the evil spirit didn t recognize these men and saw them for the imposters that they were. The evil spirit knew that they didn t have the power of the Holy Spirit and that they weren t sons of God in Jesus. So, because they had not been granted the authority that Jesus granted to His true disciples, the evil spirit showed that just using the name of Jesus in a magical way doesn t work. So, the demon gave the man supernatural strength and the man whipped up on them badly. It says he leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. This demon-possessed man was able to overpower and strip naked 7 men, to embarrass them and beat them badly to teach them a lesson all through the enablement of one demon. This in comparison to the real power of Jesus, who, when He encountered the demoniac man, who had a whole Legion of demons a Legion was around 4,000-5,000 back in that day. Needless to say, no one would pass by the area where the demons were and the demon-possessed man was able to break chains and metal shackles and he couldn t be subdued by any man. But Jesus just said Come out of the man and they recognized Him as Jesus, the Son of the Most High God and appealed to God that Jesus not torment them. Such is the power of the Son of the Most High God - Jesus Christ our Lord and He delegates His power to His disciples. But, this is what the sons of Sceva knew nothing of. New life in Jesus, with the Holy Spirit was necessary, but they didn t really know Jesus and didn t really believe in Him. Although, we do see in verse 17, that God used this incident to extol the name of Jesus, so that everyone everywhere heard about this incident and realized that Jesus truly does have power and His name is not to be trifled with and He isn t to be used like a talisman but demons recognize His true power: And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Everyone was able to connect this up with the fact that Paul cast out demons without even being there, through the power of Jesus whom he proclaimed. And as a result, not only was the name of Jesus extolled throughout all the residents of Ephesus, many became believers in Jesus. And the new life that they had resulted in power to live for Jesus. 4. Jesus brings life in the Spirit and power to live for Him. The power to live for Jesus was seen in Apollos being a great help and powerfully refuting the Jews and demonstrating from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah the Christ of God. The power to live for Jesus was also seen in those who were apparent disciples when they became born again and received the Holy Spirit, they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7

8 8 Now, we see the powerful, evident fruit of new life in those who believed. Luke writes in verse 18, Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. Genuine faith and a dependent belief in Jesus resulted in the confession of sin and the divulging of their practices. There used to be a show on TV called Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed a few years ago. The scandal surrounding it was that it exposed the biggest tricks of famous magicians and demystified them. Not only did it demystify them, it took away any illusion that the magicians had any real power at all there was nothing spectacular anymore about the magic tricks revealed. In Paul s day, for a magician to divulge their practice was to give up their livelihood. The key to their magic was secrecy and mystery. And it was believed that making a spell public made it impotent. So, these new believers were trusting in Jesus and in the Holy Spirit by divulging their practices. But it didn t stop there. For those who practiced guidance through evil spirits or were sorcerers and fortune tellers and magicians they were empowered by the Holy Spirit to give up their old life and their old practices and to live for Jesus. This sacrifice cost them dearly. Luke writes that, they counted the value of them, (their books of magic arts), and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. In today s money, it would have amounted to well over $6 million dollars. Instead of selling them though they sacrificed them they voluntarily gave them up and renounced their former lifestyle publicly, at great cost to themselves and they left their old ways behind. That is the effect of truly responding to the gospel of Jesus and placing your faith in Him for life. The Holy Spirit enables you to leave your old life behind, even at great cost and live for Jesus. The result of them living for Jesus publicly like this was powerful. The last line Luke writes in this account summarized the result of their testimony Luke says, So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. So, what do we make of all of this? We learn from Apollos that education and knowledge about God or even the ability to teach about Jesus is not enough, we must seek to know Jesus personally. From the disciples, we learn of our need for the Holy Spirit to make us alive and fill us with His power. From the sons of Sceva, we learn that it is dangerous to use Jesus for our own ends and that Jesus is to be honored in all we do not just in our words but in how we live for him. And then, the example of the disciples who did believe and did respond is compelling as well, isn t it? As they grew and matured in Christ, they came and confessed and they gave up their old ways and pursued a costly path of following Christ. Maybe some of us have grown comfortable and God is calling us to repent and to turn from our old ways and to turn to Him again. Maybe some of us need to make some costly sacrifices, renouncing living for ourselves and live for Christ out of worship for what He has done. In our church, there are likely some who don t know Jesus and need to place their faith in Jesus and receive the promised new life in the Spirit. Maybe some used to believe but have left their first love and are not experiencing life in Christ. If that is the case, repent and return to Jesus as your first love. Perhaps some are still hanging on to their old lifestyle or going back to their old ways or some have grown comfortable and need to count the cost, take up your cross and follow Jesus anew. Others of us need to keep on believing and keep pursuing Jesus even more and continually 8

9 9 seek to receive the empowering life of the Holy Spirit. Because we all desperately need to know Jesus personally and we all need His empowering Holy Spirit don t we? Let s seek Jesus and seek the filling of the Spirit daily together Redeeming Grace Church. This transcribed message has been lightly edited and formatted for the Website. No attempt has been made, however, to alter the basic extemporaneous delivery style, or to produce a grammatically accurate, publication-ready manuscript conforming to an established style template. 9